


The Cat and Mouse

by RozonRozark



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Mouse Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Multimouse, Multichat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29948511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RozonRozark/pseuds/RozonRozark
Summary: When Lila lies about dating Chat Noir Adrien tells everyone that the cat isn't dating the liar but a cute little mouse instead.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 14
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m dating Chat Noir,” Lila said to her gathered audience. Adrien’s head snapped up upon hearing that and before he could stop himself the denial was past his lips. “Oh, what makes you so sure about that?” Looking around Adrien noticed that everyone’s heads had turned towards him.

His head was going through a hundred options while also wishing that Ladybug was here. While he wished that he could just say that his amazingly awesome alter-ego was dating said also amazing women all the reports and interviews the two had given would prove him a quick liar. While his eyes darted around the room taking in everyone his eyes spotted the dark hair of Dupain and he came up with a solution. “Because Chat Noir told me he’s dating Multimouse!”

The Ladybloger descended on him in an instant. “Alright Agrest couple of questions. One when did you talk to the cat, but more importantly WHO is Multimouse. ‘Cause I can assure you that I keep full recorders of all of Paris heros and I have never heard of a mouse scurrying about.”

Well if everyone’s eyes weren’t on him before they sure as heck were on him now. “Oh Chat drops by my house occasionally,” seeing Alya’s questioning look Adrien rushed his brain for something, “when I asked why he said he needed a favor. Apparently the guy is a cheese addict or something cause he really needed some wheels of cheese,” whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Dupain.

“Wait he came to you for cheese?” Adrian saw emotions flicker across his friends blue eyes, emotions he couldn’t quite place. “Did he pay you for them?” Oh they were worried about him, such a good friend.

“Well he offered but I didn’t accept, it would be rude to ask one of Paris’s heros to pay.” 

“Oh, sunshine,” Alya let out a sigh, “never change.”

“So after that he came back every so often to hang out and talk, so that’s how I found out he was dating Mulimouse.” Man he had to give himself a pat on the back for this, next to deceiving Ladybug about Plagg being in the school this had to be one of his better lies.

Everyone looked between themselves and whispered while Rose let out a sigh, “Aww, cat and mouse, I bet they're so cute together.” Well from what he remembered of Multimouse and her civilian identity…

“I have to get pictures next time I see them!” Ayla said pumping her fist while a look of sheer determination lit up her eyes. Ah, it seems he may have missed a step in his plan. Definitely need to get in touch with LB about this ASAP. Thankfully the Agreste’s saving grace came in the form of the lunch bell allowing him to slip out of the classroom.

“Whoa what’s the emergency kid?” Plagg asked when he got outside.

“Don’t act like you weren’t listening, Plagg.” The blonde said while trying to think of what to do next.

“Well you dug that hole pretty deep.” His unhelpful kwami said while seeming to enjoy the chaos. “So what’s your big plan? Convince Pigtails to let the mouse out so you can date the girl you only met twice?” Adrien let out a sigh because that was basically the plan. 

“Well we did seem to get along really well the one time my lady let us patrol together.” The blonde said leaning against the wall. “Besides it should only be for a short time then everyone will forget about it and move on.”

“Yeah cause superhero gossip fades so quickly,” Adrian could almost taste the sarcasm Plagg was using, “especially that Ladyblogger friend of yours.” Crap, he might have forgotten her. “Well better get to work on those kitten eyes so you can convince the new guardian to let you date a mouse.”

~~~~~

Marinette was used to misunderstandings, they seemed common around her. Someone said one thing when they meant another thing, another mistook something for something else, so on and so forth. So Plagg was found in the school she went to, she just misinterpreted and thought Chat went to her school too, lucky they were able to clear up the misunderstanding and as a bonus she was able to take herself off of the ally cat’s list of suspects using a whole bunch of Miraculous. Though it might have been unnecessary given how he didn’t even seem to recognize her civilian self. Not that she expected him to recognize her or anything but just to double check she did a patrol with him as Multimouse and got nothing.

Was one patrol enough for Chat to fall for her new secret identity and why go to Adrien for more cheese for Plagg? Her mind going into overdrive was interrupted by a hard pat to her back by Kim. “Hey Dupain you managed to sneak a couple of those treats you promised for losing our bet?” 

Rolling her eyes Marinette began to reach into her bag only to hear rapid feet pounding toward her. “What’s this I hear about a bet?” Nino asked, having come back from looking for Adrian.

“We made a bet a couple days ago about a Let’s Player and I won.” Kim said with a large grin on his face. Marinette muttered a few curses while handing over a baggy of treats.

“You guys had a bet going and didn’t let me know!” Nino said dramatically, “I’m hurt dudes.”

“Well we can make a couple more bets when we have another sleepover.” Kim said his mind going to what other bets he could make while waiting to challenge his friends again. 

“You know we really didn’t thank Alix enough for winning that race.” Nino muttered to her. She gave a nod while restraining a giggle. “So you think we should try getting Adrian to come over for the party?”

“What’s this about a party?” Alya asked while walking up to her boyfriend. 

“Oh did I never mention them?” Nino said while reaching up and rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry dudette, the party is more a sleepover between us and the rest of the guys.” 

Hearing the explanation Alya nodded, “Well at least if anything goes wrong I have two reliable people to keep things from going too far.” Turning her attention back towards her boyfriend she added, “That said I still need your help if what Sunshine said is true about the new whisker team in town.”

A spark lit up in Marinette’s eye as a devious idea came crashing into her head. “Well as fun as shooting the breeze is with you guys I need to go help my parents at the bakery.”

“See you later dude,” Nino said tilting his head and hat towards her while Kim and Alya gave their typical goodbyes. 

Exiting the school she made a beeline for her home as more and more pieces for her plan started forming while slotting into place. Reaching her room she dumped her backpack while Tikki popped out of one of the pouches with a hum as watched her chosen mutter to herself. The kwami of creation was about to grab a cookie while waiting for her to wind down only to feel herself vibrate. “Marinette Chat is calling you.” 

A quick transformation later and jumping up to her roof Ladybug opened her yo-yo to answer the call. “What’s up Chaton?” A bit of worry crept into her tone, it was rare that he called her. 

“Uh, hey LB, I was just hoping that, uh, Multimouse could show up to patrol tonight.” Was this happening because if so then her Ladybug luck was working overtime. 

“Sure thing, in fact I was going to take a break from some patrols and let a few others cover some of them.” Ladybug gave him a smile while sitting down.

“Wait what?” Chat said, giving her a confused glance.

“Well after Miracule Queen we lost a lot of team mates so I want the few we have left to be on their top game for when we have to use them.” She watched him nod before giving a sigh. “You know I heard that the guardian is a bit looser with secrets concerning her partner knowing the identities of the other user.” She watched in amusement as his ears perked up and his pupils grew. “They just need to check with the temporary holders to make sure they’re okay with a certain kitty knowing.” 

“Let me know as soon as you can!” Chat said and Ladybug knew if she saw him in person he would be hopping from foot to foot.

“Of course,” hanging up the call Ladybug landed on her balcony before returning to being normal. 

“Are you really going to tell Chat all of the temporary holder identities?” Tikki giving her holder a look. “You would be giving him the fox, turtle, and mouse identities.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll have Rena’s and Carpace’s identities but the mysterious Multimouse is going to play a game of cat and mouse with the brave hunter.” Letting out a giggle she went to one of her mannequins that she had modified to hide the miraculous box. “Well time to see what Chat will do next.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chat bounced from foot to foot as he waited on the Eiffel Tower for the others to arrive. He was going to get their identities and then he could convince a certain mouse to date him. Yup everything about today was shooting up, he just had to avoid the tropes of fake dating. 

“Heya dude, how goes it!” A voice behind him called out causing him to turn slightly to see Carapace arrive. “So I guess LB told you who I am?”

“No she hasn’t arrived yet.” Chat said trying to relax and not let his excitement show. “So how did you and Rena avoid Miracle Queen?” That was a question that was bugging him since that cullsole mess.

The turtle user let out a chuckle while messing with his hood. “Oh he saw the giant swarm of bees, started screaming, grabbed my hand and jumped into the nearest water source.” A joking voice called out to them as Rena appeared.

“I told you that I don’t like those stinging demons dudette.” Carapace told her while a blush appeared on his cheeks.

“Aw, don’t worry turtle,” Rena said leaning forward while giving him a full smile. “I forgave you the moment I saw what happened with the other miraculous users.” Giving an affectionate pat on his shoulder the sneaky fox turned toward Chat with a sly grin on her face. “So Mr. Whiskers where is Miss. Whiskers?” The Black Cat user’s eyes flew open. How did she know about that?

“Oh my god am I late!” A voice yelled out while the least experienced hero arrived stumbling upon landing. “I know I was Ladybug said I was her last stop but I thought I was quick enough especially when she said she needed me here early because she couldn’t show up and I needed to give you something.” 

“Back up a bit there Mousinette,” Chat said calmly approaching her. “Now you said that my lady had something for me?” Waiting for her to take a deep breath she shoved a sealed letter toward him. Looking at her with a soft smile she gave a chuckle before facepalming and rushing back to grab a box she seemed to drop when she landed.

“I also brought this for you,” Shifting the letter a bit to grab a hold of the offered box.

“Oh and what purr-haps did I do to get sweets from such a sweet little mouse?” Giving the short hero a wink he was rewarded with an eye roll as she leaned toward him with a smirk.

“Well I remember that a certain super kitty talked about their favorite treats and thought that sense they were such an amazing hero they deserved some home cooked meals.”

“Thank you,” Chat felt some tears trying to escape at the thought she put into her gift. “That was quite paw-some of you to do.” Hearing a noise behind him Chat turned on his heel to see Rena staring at them and Carapace awkwardly standing to the side. “Oh paw-don me for the late introductions. Everyone let me introduce the a-moew-zing Multimouse.” Standing to the side Chat presented the other hero off to the others. “Now why don’t the three of you mingle while I read this.”

~~~~~

Marinette watched Chat Noir walk away with a smile. She knew she had to act differently then when she was Ladybug and it seemed to be paying off based on Chat’s reaction to getting the treats. Now he was probably going to read the letter and admit to Alya that they weren’t dating. Yeah it might hurt Adrien but that is what Chat gets for visiting a random citizen to get food for his Kwami.

“So you're the mysterious Multimouse?” Rena asked, shocking her out of her thoughts and causing her to let out a squeak.

“Um, well yes I’m Multimouse but the only mysterious thing about me is how clumsy I am.” Man it felt weird talking to one of her better friends in a different suit.

“Well it's nice to meet you dude.” Carapace said, giving a calm smile toward her. “So you only been out once?”

Looking over at Chat she saw him putting the letter away before heading her way. “Yeah I guess you could say I’m still learning the ropes.” While saying this she made sure to grab her tail and swing it around.

“Really?” Alya asked and Marinette was sure if the mask wasn’t there she would see a raised eyebrow.

“What can I say, she is hiss-terical.” Rolling her eyes the girl smiled at the grinning cat.

“I only wish I was as claw-ver as you.” Seeing his green eyes sparkle in amusement she felt a tingle go down her spine as her heart rate started to pick up. What was going on?!

Hearing a cough to the side they turned to see the other two heroes. “So I have a couple questions I would like to ask you two.” The redhead asked in her no nonsense voice.

“Well I would love to but LB said in her note that she wanted us to do separate patrols.” She didn’t say that. “So why don’t you two enjoy your superhero date while I take this cute little mouse for some mice cream.” What!

“Sounds like a plan cat,” The tratorios fox said, giving him a wink. “I hope you know that you can’t run from my questions forever.”

“Good luck dude,” Carapace said, giving him a nod. “Same patrol route as before?”

“Yup now don’t get distracted making out with each other.”

“Same goes for you ‘super kitty’,” the mouse user's eyes shot open at the fox’s comment. Did they actually seem to be in a relationship? Was she unknowingly dating her partner under a different mask? When did this happen!

“Hey we need to talk,” a hand and calm voice drew her out of her thoughts before she could get too far lost in her thoughts. “Follow me little mouse.”

“Oh so the mouse is going to chase the cat?” What is with her and the flirty attitude? 

“We’ll just have to see how good at tailing me you are.” Chat gave a wink before bringing up his baton. “Now follow closely my good fur-end.”

Watching him taking off the raven haired girl didn’t wait long before taking off after him feeling a rush. Remembering his comment about tailing him she shot forward as best she could to try and catch the cat. Nearing him she tried to reach out and grab his tail only for one of his ears to twitch and the object of her focus to shoot out of range. Landing on a roof he shot a questioning look at her only for Marinette to give him her best innocent smile. “You said you wanted me to tail you so I assumed you meant you wanted me to try and catch you?”

Chat let out a chuckle as he walked toward her. “If you really want to play cat and mouse sometime then you just need to say so but for now I need to talk to you. So please just follow me okay?” Giving him a soft smile she respectfully followed him this time. Arriving at an out of the way roof the wielder of Plagg scouted for a quick second before nodding. “Alright looks like no one will over hear us.”

“Is this about what Ladybug wrote? If so I can explain.”

“It is abit to do with that but I really need to ask a favor of you.” Grabbing her shoulders Chat stared deep into her eyes. “I really need you to date me.”

“What! Why?” Marinette’s mind was going into overdrive. Did he really fall for her a second time? Did she have it in her to turn him down a second time? What if he found out her and Ladybug were the same person and was now one step away from figuring out her secret identity? Would she have to give the box and Guardian title up? How much would she forget?

“Hey, look at me,” Following his instructions she looked up at him. “Take a few deep breaths and I promise I will explain. Just know that you are free to say no.” Sitting down Multimouse took a few deep breaths as her teacher showed her. “Here,” looking up she saw her partner holding out one of the croissants she brought for them, “this should help.”

As she started taking small bites she saw the cat sit down next to her while reaching into the box to pull out his own treat. The two ate in comfortable silence for awhile, “Okay I’m ready.” For better or worse.

“Okay first I need to ask a question… Do you know a girl named Lila?”

“Unfortunately,” why was she not surprised this involved her in some form.

“Yeah she is not that pleasant to be around. Well yesterday she told a lie about me dating her and my friend Adrien defended my honor.”

“Sounds like something he would do.” A soft smile found its way to her lips. 

“Yeah so he might have told his class that I was dating you.” Rubbing the back of his neck. “So now I need you to fake date me.”

“Oh fake date, not really date.”

“Yeah it would really help me out, and not just with Lila.” Her head shot to look at him worry clear in her eyes. “Some of my fans have been getting rather… rowdy about my single status.”

“Kitty,” Multimouse whispered, shuffling over to him and laying one of her hands on top of his. Why didn’t he tell LB this, they were partners, did he not feel comfortable talking to her about what he was going through? Looks like she had some investigating to do to see what they were doing to her kitty.

Not pushing her hand off his Chat continued on, “So it would be really nice if we could act like we’re dating. Just for a few months at least,” turning his head slightly to stare right into her eyes along with shifting his hand to hold hers, “please.”

Multimouse felt like she could get lost in his gaze and barley registered her nod, “Sure, yeah anything to help one of the heroes of Paris.” What was going on with her.

“Thanks, now can we talk about a certain cute mouse not wanting to share their identity.”


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien watched the mouse go through a bunch of emotions before he tightened his grip on her hand which somewhat caused her to calm down. “Game!” She got out before freezing.

“Game?”

“Uh, yeah I um, wanted to play a game with you.” She stuttered out while her eyes shot everywhere like a trapped mouse.

“Oh so you want me to figure out your identity through a game!” Chat felt a bit of excitement start blooming in his chest. He still got to learn her identity but it was going to be through a fun method! “Oh we could do something like truth or dare!”

“Yeah, but um we have to set up rules for it.” Multimouse said, looking him in the eye. “Like how about not being allowed to directly ask for my identity.”

“Well that is obvious, it would take all the fun out of it.” Chat said, giving a nod while turning to look out over the city and taking another bite of his delicious food. “Oh how about just one question per day to drag out the hunt.” He tried giving his best predator smile which seemed to work as he got a nice red face from his fake girlfriend along with a cute stream of words before giving a nod. “Alright I think we wasted enough time I think we should finish our patrol.”

The two got up as Chat packed up the food and tried handing it back to the mouse only for her to push it toward him. “I brought it for you so all that's left is for you.” Thanking her he was careful the rest of patrol not to disturb the precious cargo he would have to hide when he got home. But it would be worth it!

During the patrol he saw her relax a bit more as they went over the basics of their fake dating. One: They actually had to act like they were dating in front of others. Two: They were allowed to call each other any nickname the other came up for them. Three: They stuck to the backstory of how they met and started dating.

The story the two came up with was that they first met during Kwamibuster and he fell for her creativity and strong will, plus seeing her in her cute pajamas helped. (When he had brought up that he had seen her in her pajamas she had gone through a whole spectrum of pink.) She already had a crush on Chat and the two hit it off very well on her first patrol so they decided to try dating each other. “All right little mouse it looks like our patrol of this fine city is over. So this knight of yours now has a question for you.” Chat said, taking an exaggerated bow.

“Very well I shall allow my knight in leather armor to ask me one last question for the night.” The mouse said with a giggle while leaning towards his bent over frame. When he rose she matched him as he raised to full height.

Looking down at her he got as close as he felt comfortable doing. “Truth Or Dare.” He muttered only a little lost in her eyes. He saw surprise in her eye before she looked down and muttered her choice of truth. “What is your favorite color?”

She looked back at him before leaning toward him with a flirty smile. Caught off guard the cat leaned back as she spoke. “Pink, just like your blush.” With a poke of her finger on his nose he became aware of how hot his cheeks were. “Well I best be off.” She turned to walk off only but Adrian refused to let her win like that.

“Dare,” Multimouse spun around her eyes wide at hearing what Chat said, “I choose dare.”

“What?”

“You said we got to play Truth or Dare so I choose dare.” Strutting forward he made sure his tail flicked from side to side. “Now then Purrr-incess what is my dare?” Once more he pushed forward into her space but it was worth it to see her face light up red as her eyes darted around before seeming to lock onto something.

“I dare you…” the bun haired girl gestured with her head slightly in a direction. Subtle looking over he saw a familiar gleam of light off of a phone meaning they were being watched. “To kiss me.” Clever mouse, he would need to do something really nice for her to make up for this.

“You don’t need to dare me to do that,” Relaying on years of experience from modeling he grabbed her chin with his hand while moving his other hand toward her hip to keep her close. “Just follow my lead,” he muttered as quietly as possible he leaned as far forward without fully kissing her. He knew she didn’t mention it during their discussion of the rules but he knew better then to kiss someone romantically when they weren’t actually dating. But when he felt her hands in his hair he had to restrain himself from purring at the contact. Waiting a few seconds while feeling her hot breath on his lips he pulled back giving her a dazzling smile all while he missed her hands leaving her hair. “Till next we meet my breath stealing princess.” With a little more pep in his step he shot away in a roundabout route toward his house. 

Landing he muttered the words to return to being boring old Adrian. He watched Plagg float over to his fridge of stored cheese. “So you chose the mouse over the bug or dragon?” The black Kwami said amusement clearly in his voice.

“First of all we are just fake dating. Second, you know that I’m only friends with Kagami.” Adrian said grabbing a macaroon out of the bag while hiding it in his closet. “You also know that it's impossible for me to get over Ladybug.” He had tried so hard to move on but he couldn’t and it started affecting his relationship with Kagami. It had only taken the second date for both of them to realize something was up and them to break up. She just said they both needed to think over a few things.

That had been about a week ago and he had realized that he would never get over his lady, not when they were both always so close. “I will need to talk to her about patrols.” 

~~~~~~

Marinette let her transformation fall as she collapsed onto her bed with a groan. “What was with me tonight?” She was a blushing mess around Chat tonight. She should be used to his flirting by now! But tonight it was like she just Marinette and had none of the confidence she was used to when in spandex. 

“Hah, yeah, that might have been me.” Mullo admitted hovering over after grabbing his snack. “You’re not quite used to using me so of course you were a bit uncomfortable. Doesn’t help that he is a cat.”

“What does having the black cat miraculous have to do with what happened?” 

“Well the cat and mouse share a special relationship, you know kinda like predator and prey.” 

“Would the same thing happen with the snake user?” The young guardian inquired.

“No, maybe, it depends on the wielder.” Mullo said before shrugging. “But all mice have a reaction to the cat mainly due to him being two steps higher in terms of power than us whereas the snake is even with us.” Nodding her head she turned to Tikki who was just looking at her. 

Seeing that her Chosen was done talking with the other kwami all Tikki did was ask her question. “So you are dating Chat?”

“Yeah I guess so…” Marinette muttered before grabbing a pillow to scream into. 

“Well looks like things didn’t go as planned.” The Kwami muttered before fluttering over to the computer. “Wonder what Chat’s fans are doing that he felt this was the best response.” The girl didn’t seem to hear her as she was busy still screaming. 

“How, how did this get so out of hand!” Looking over at her poster of her model crush she let out a sigh. “Well at least I’m dating a nice blonde.”

“Yeah and this one doesn’t see you as a guy.” Tikki drawled out. Man had that been entertaining to find out over the course of a week, but then it got a bit tiresome as she saw how it seemed that the universe was against her revealing her gender or feelings. At more than one point Tikki wanted to strangle Plagg’s Chosen all while the black cat laughed when he found out the situation.

“That’s not fair! Everyone but my family thinks I’m a dude!” Marinette whined, “I mean do you know how awkward it is to hear guys complain about guys things and not being to relate! Then when you try to clarify that you are a girl the zoo animals escape and you have to then run away.”

“Wow, is this really that common?” Mullo asked with a bit of amusement.

“Yeah hopefully nothing major has come from it.” Marinette not noticing Tikki fuming and scribbling things down. “How am I going to get out of this?” Moving around her hand landed on a pillow as an idea came to mind. “Guys like mature women…” A new plan formed in her head as a new plan came to mind. But first she needed to leave a message or talk to Chat about the new patrol schedule. Hopefully he won’t Ladybug not showing up as often for patrol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright need to clear this up, no Chat doesn't recognize Marinette as MM because she was home that day and thus when the illusion retransformed into her PJs. Because that was clearly a girl unlike his good friend Dupain.

**Author's Note:**

> So just to clarify a few things because I know their are going to be questions. One: Why does everyone call Marinette by Dupain? Simple they believe her to be a guy. How did that happen? Read to find out.


End file.
